Who were HUMPTY and DUMPTY?

During the English Civil War the City of Gloucester was being held by one Colonel Massey for the parliamentarians, and they were about to be besieged by the King’s army, approaching from the West.

Now in those days Gloucester was a walled city and bordered on the west by the River Severn, (Great Britain’s longest river) and the King’s army had built two siege towers called - you guessed it - Humpty and Dumpty, which were duly wheeled into the Severn and pushed against the walls of Gloucester.

What the attacking army had forgotten was the Severn Bore, a great tidal wave that rushes UP the Severn. Along came the bore and duly crashed into Humpty and Dumpty, knocking them down and smashing them. Hence the nursery rhyme:

Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall,

All the King’s horses,

And all the King’s men,

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

- Brian T.

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